Half-a-century, Part Two: quiet time

Once we pried our eyes completely open this morning, Otis took me out into the peaceful wilderness of Granite Falls to the Tsubaki American Shrine, a traditional Jinja Shinto shrine, located on 25 wooded acres fronting the river south of the town proper. By prior arrangement, Koichi Barrish, the resident priest, performed a Shingan Joju Kigan ceremony for the realization of heartfelt wishes.











Shinto is an ancient Japanese religion whose tenets include a little ancestor reverence, some polytheism, some animism, and a focus on purification. The ceremony was contemplative and very stylized; the simplicity of the setting and the beauty of the natural surroundings made for a quiet and meditative morning.